Sangma slams Congress for not supporting tribals

Presidential candidate PA Sangma on Thursday lashed out at the Congress for not supporting a tribal in the race to Raisina Hills and said the party "will know about the effect of this".

"Tribals have always stood along with the Congress. But the party did not come out to support tribal cause. They will know about the effect of this," Sangma told reporters.

Sangma, whose candidature has been supported by the BJP, SAD, BJD and AIADMK, said he was accompanied by LK Advani, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy and senior BJP leader MM Joshi.

He filed his nomination papers for the July 19 Presidential election at around 2:30pm.

The former Lok Sabha speaker, who quit his party NCP to contest the polls, said the Tribal Forum of India met in May and decided to support a tribal candidate for the President's post as no tribal has been elected as the President of the country.

"The forum met all the political parties especially non-Congress. We also sought an appointment from Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But we did not get appointment," Sangma said.

He added that Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalalithaa gave positive response and backed his candidature.

Earlier in the day Congress-led UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee accompanied by host of leaders of the ruling combination including UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh filed four sets of nomination papers before the returning officer in Parliament House.